We blogged about it back in 2008 and again in 2009. PETA is just pulling an old hat trick out from the dusty confines of their hyper green media bunker, slapping lipstick on a very ugly media pig for another round of disgust and sound bytes.

Sounds like something Sea Shepherd would do but unfortunately it's their mentally challenged media cousins at it again, this time to great effect.

Is PETA effective? Who knows and who cares, as long as folks scream bloody murder everytime they launch tasteless campaigns they feel as if they are reaching an audience.

You want to put a stop to this?

Ignore the mentally challenged vegan crazies and their media output because crazy needs an audience and without it they're just another bunch of village idiots on the street corner.

For the past several years Da Sharks blog has been an industry mainstay, offering up ideas, kudos, and pithy, salted commentary with an industry and conservation focus.

Why are independent industry blogs important?

Because the shark diving industry, an offshoot of the dive industry, needed it. Prior to the advent of the shark blogs, the industry was a tribal and fractured affair with little direction and no real conservation focus.

In many cases it was an industry that reveled in glorifying stupid stunts with sharks as an industry norm.

All that changed when operations discovered that not only were they being observed on an international level but actions taken with sharks were being talked about, discussed, and even picked over with the best ideas, best practices, and best conservation efforts being recognized.

Additionally the broader industry discovered that shark conservation was a key element to success.

No longer was it just acceptable to make money with sharks and repeat, the concept of regional stewardship for sharks was nurtured by the shark blogs with some first rate leadership examples and and quickly adopted by many.

It is now a fast growing trend.

The impact of the shark blogs will remain one of the shark diving industries least told stories, but today we celebrate the 1000th blog posts by one of the industries leaders. Like what he has to say or not, agree with his positions or not, the Fiji shark blog has blown open the doors on the discussion of sharks and conservation/industry development to a global audience.

Many of our divers here at Shark Diver choose to send us "after action" trip reports via email. Others write articles in local newspapers, and still others create their own blogs about their experiences in the company of the White Sharks of Guadalupe.

Newly minted Shark Diver Bev Downie from the U.K is one of those bloggers we love so much, encapsulating her sharky experiences in a way that would make even seasoned travel writers jealous:

Guadalupe Great - Shredder - Image Bev Downie

Ever since I can remember, my one and only bucket list item has been
to cage dive with Great White Sharks. I don’t know if it was seeing the
film Jaws that generated this enthusiasm but whatever it was, this
month it became a reality.

I began researching in October 2010 and immediately found loads of
trips leaving from Gansbai in South Africa. My feelings were that there
were so many commercial trips leaving for the same spot, it would not
be a real insight into the world of the sharks, more of a sharky
X-Factor!

Further research led me to read stories of murky water,
crowded cages and dubious baiting practices. Back to square one – where
else in the world could I experience this but seeing the sharks on
their own terms. Good old Google led me to Isla Guadalupe, off the
coast of Mexico. Again I found a few companies offering trips, but the
one which stood out was www.sharkdiver.com which was the only one to
offer a shark guarantee. If you didn’t see a shark on your trip, you
could return for free. Paying $3000+ dollars and travelling half way
round the world, this was very appealing to me. I rang Patric, the CEO
of the company and his enthusiasm rubbed off on me and before I knew it I
was signed up and on my way!

It is not an easy journey to dive with Great White Sharks at Isla
Guadalupe. For me there was a 11 hour flight to Las Vegas followed by a
couple of days of R&R (and gambling!) then an hour long flight to
San Diego. On joining the boat in San Diego, there is an eight hour
trip to Ensenada in Mexico to clear customs then another 18 hours to
Isla Guadalupe. We were fortunate to have some of the calmest seas that
the crew can remember – for this I was very grateful!

The boat, which is home for the five day trip is the Horizon. She is
a beautiful vessel, not fancy but perfectly suited to the needs of 16
crazy shark fans and a seven man/woman crew. On arrival on the boat at
9pm on the first night, it was a case of getting to know our fellow
adventure buddies, having a safety talk from the Captain and also Martin
the Dive Master on what to expect and then to bed for a rest while the
boat made her way to Ensenada. Clearing customs took no time and we
were on our way. Our escort out of Ensenada was a huge pod of Pacific
White Sided Dolphins who escorted the boat for several miles. An
uneventful day of fitting wetsuits, reading, gossiping and sleeping
followed and again we were all ready for an early night in preparation
for what was to come the next day.

I woke early, feeling the boat come to a stop and hearing the engines
shutting down. Along with a couple of other bleary eyed travellers, I
made my way on to the deck and got my first glimpse (albeit in the dark)
of the vast wall of rock that is Isla Guadalupe. The sea was jet black
and I could only imagine what was going on beneath the boat! I
surfaced for the second time along with my other fellow divers at around
6am in time for a cooked breakfast and safety briefing and then before
we knew it, it was shark time! The first shark we saw from the boat was
even before the cages were put in the water and the level of excitement
on seeing that first dorsal fin was incredible. Little did we know
what was in store for the rest of the day!

With 16 divers and four divers per cage taking hour long rotations,
it was soon time for my team to enter the cage for the first time. I
had an amazing group of cage buddies including Tracie and Munro from
Vancouver and Gary from West Virginia. We got on brilliantly both above
and below the water. As non-certified divers, Tracie and I both
received individual help from Dive Master Martin to ensure we were
comfortable clearing our masks and replacing the regulator underwater
and then it was shark watch!

Seeing our first Great White from a
distance will be something I will never forget. They move so slowly and
gracefully, quite unlike the media would have you believe. The first
hour was over in a flash, and we had seen a shark. Could it get any
better – oh yes!

During our second rotation of the day, we came face to face with
Shredder. Shredder is an adult male Great White Shark around 16 feet in
length and as Martin so nicely put it, he is not the most careful
shark! His shredded dorsal fin and numerous scars are testament to the
scrapes he has been in. You can read how he got his name here http://bit.ly/n56AFk Shredder decided that our first day in the cages
was going to be the Shredder show and he treated us to lots of close
passes of the cages from all angles, some lovely toothy grins into the
cage and also some antics on the surface to ensure those watching from
the deck didn’t get bored. Shredder is definitely the comedian of the
shark world! Occasionally he would give a smaller shark the chance to
say hello but chased them off the minute he felt he was missing the
attention of his adoring public. For eight hours he was cruising around
the boat and cages and once the cages had been lifted for the night, he
breached next to the boat almost as if to say, ‘hey guys, what are you
doing, I’m still here!’ Apparently this was the best ‘sharking’ day of
the season so far as 13 different sharks were identified.

After a full day of diving, we sat down to one of many amazing meals
on board (Mark and Naomi the cooks do the most incredible job of feeding
everyone despite not being anywhere near a shop for the entire trip)
We were fortunate to have Maurizio, the Islands Shark researcher come
on board to talk to us about the sharks and his adventures to the bottom
of the sea bed in a small submersible. A few beers and comparing tales
and photographs from the day and everyone was ready for bed!

Days two and three were quieter on the action front but even so, our
rotation saw at least one shark on every dive and it was nice to be able
to identify some different sharks. Sharks are identified by their
white markings on fins and gills and permanent mutilations. We had a
book on board to help us identify the individuals. After two rotations
each on the third morning, we set off for the return trip to San Diego.
On our way out of Isla Guadalupe we saw the elephant seals which the
sharks like to eat (I never realised they only had to eat around once
every two months. Hardly crazed killing machines!)

The journey back was slightly rougher but still calm according to the
crew and it was a chance to relax and enjoy the company of our new
friends before arriving back in San Diego. It was sad to say goodbye
but an amazing experience and I made some great new friends. The trip
did not finish when I got off the boat as I had sea legs for 24 hours
after getting back to the more ruthless sharks in Las Vegas!

I would like to say a massive thank you to all the crew of the
Horizon – Spencer, Cary, Mark, Nick, Mark, Naomi and Martin for making
such a memorable trip.